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Do you understand how the presence of one STBBI may increase the risk of another?

  • A Core Competency in the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections (STBBIs)

Consider...

Mateo works as a health educator at a community health centre. One of his clients, Roxana, who has just tested positive for genital herpes, discloses to him that when drinking she occasionally has unprotected sex with unknown sexual partners. Mateo comfortably explains to Roxana the importance of safe sex to prevent the transmission of herpes to her sexual partners, but stumbles while trying to explain to Roxana why having herpes may increase her susceptibility to other STBBIs, including HIV.

Do you work in the area of sexual health or STBBI prevention and support? Do you understand how the presence of one STBBI may increase the risk of another?

Use the questions below to help you self-assess your knowledge, skills, attitudes and practices related to the relationship between different STBBIs. Remember that depending on your role, you may require different levels of proficiency for the various core competencies and it is possible that some of the competencies are not relevant to your work.

  1. Are you familiar with the common routes of STBBI transmission?
  2. Do you understand how HIV and hepatitis C co-infection can accelerate disease progression and complicate treatment?
  3. Do you understand how having an STI increases the risk of HIV transmission, or alternatively, how having an STI increases the risk of HIV acquisition?
  4. Are you comfortable explaining in clear, simple language the relationship between different STBBIs?

Suggested resources:

This is one of a series of cases on the core competencies for STBBI prevention. View all 26 cases on the core competencies for STBBI prevention.

Have a resource to suggest? Let us know.